Physical vs Digital

First of all, I do not think every document is going to be digitalized. Sure, a lot of data will be digitalized but, not every photo, piece of text, or newspaper clipping is going to make it to being digitalized.

Second, I would prefer that there is a digital as well as a physical copy because I’ve learned in the past that computers cannot be trusted unless it has a backup hard drive that keeps the data on the computer saved on the backup. I have had a history of computers crashing on me! Due to either computer viruses or my computer was the 1 in 3,000 made that had a malfunction and only estimated to last for a couple years before it going completely dead! I lost photos, essays, and medical files before I started investing in a backup drive for my computers (time capsule for my recent Mac computer).

Third and final point: I love being able to flip the pages of a catalog. It’s the only type of mail I get and I enjoy receiving them! Sure, I like shopping online as much as the next person but, I just like the physical aspect of the store catalog in my hands. I really don’t understand as to why I like it more than the online catalogs. Is it the feeling of it in my hands really make a difference? I don’t know but, I like it.

Guest Speaker: Erik Hanberg

A speaker came to our class the other day. His name is Erik Hanberg and he is a man of the future. He says that there are more jobs to be found in the virtual world and that you might make it big by just making one "black swan." Black swans rare events that are beyond the realm of normal expectations, such as YouTube or Google. He also writes and owns his own business online and works along his web designing wife who has ninja powers over the designing process(jk)! Anyways, he gave me the inspiration to make my own site and hopefully it will become the ever so rare black swan.

Scavenger Hunt

I had no idea I had to bring my computer to class! I left utterly useless just sitting there in class! I tried helping in other ways such as suggesting sites and writing down those sites. All and all, I think it would have been so much easier if I had my laptop...the only problem is that I'm not allowed to bring it to school because the Mac laptops tend to crash very easily or at least my Mac laptops do. My last Mac laptop that my family bought in March crashed once before and we brought it to the Genius Bar in the Apple computer store to get it fixed. The man behind the bar tells me that I have been moving my laptop too much and it should remain stationary the entire time it is on! Even though a laptop is made to be portable as well as versatile! I heard; now don’t quote me on this but, a 3rd of computer laptops are going to crash within three years of purchasing them. Maybe my computer was the lucky one of the bunch and crashed three years earlier within our warranty so, we were able to fix it without any additional charge!

Convergence....?

What the heck does convergence means?! I looked it up in the dictionary after I thought about the possible meanings for the word...I thought I might've known the actual meaning from dissecting it into parts and go back to what I have learned about the route word but, that didn't help me much. I actually cracked open a dusty dictionary and I swear, there was a bat flying out of its moldy pages and a couple of moths slowly floating away from me. Anyways, I looked up the meaning of the word convergence and this is what I got: a coming together from different directions, especially a uniting or merging of groups or tendencies that were originally opposed or very different.

Is this the meaning that my professor met for the students to find? I think not! So, I did what every student would do in this day and age…Go online and look it up on Wikipedia! There! I found the answer! Convergence has something to do with programming language, telecommunications, and routing protocol! It all makes sense to me now! Thank you Wikipedia! You’re the best!

Why Leaves Really Fall Off Trees? By Robert Krulwich

You think you know why leaves fall off trees. Well, you're wrong. It's not the wind. It's not the cold.

It's because trees use "scissors" to cut their leaves off.

We call this season the "fall" because all around us right now (if you live near leaf-dropping trees in a temporal zone), leaves are turning yellow and looking a little dry and crusty. So when a stiff breeze comes along, those leaves seem to "fall" off, thus justifying the name "fall."
Sounds reasonable, no?

But the truth is much more interesting.

According to Peter Raven, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden and a renowned botanist, the wind doesn't gently pull leaves off trees. Trees are more proactive than that. They throw their leaves off. Instead of calling this season "The Fall," if trees could talk they'd call this the "Get Off Me" season.

Here's why.

Around this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, as the days grow shorter and colder, those changes trigger a hormone in leaf-dropping trees that sends a chemical message to every leaf that says, in essence, "Time to go! Let's part company!"

Once the message is received, says Raven, little cells appear at the place where the leaf stem meets the branch. They are called "abscission" cells. They have the same root as the word scissors, meaning they are designed, like scissors, to make a cut.

And within a few days or weeks, every leaf on these deciduous trees develops a thin bumpy line of cells that push the leaf, bit by bit, away from the stem. You can't see this without a microscope, but if you looked through one, you'd see those scissors cells lined right up.

That's where the tree gives each leaf a push, leaving it increasingly dangling. "So with that very slender connection, they're sort of ready to be kicked off," says Raven, and then a breeze comes along and finishes the job.

So the truth is, the wind isn't making the leaves fall. It's the tree.

The tree is deeply programmed by eons of evolution to insist that the leaves drop away. Why? Why not let the leaves stick around? Why drop?

Raven explains that leaves are basically the kitchen staff of a tree. During the spring, summer and early fall they make the food that helps the tree grow and thrive and reproduce. When the days get short and cold, food production slows down, giving the tree an option: It can keep the kitchen staff or it can let it go.

If trees kept their leaves permanently they wouldn't have to grow new ones, but leaves are not the brightest of bulbs (sorry!). Every so often, when the winter weather has a break and the days turn warm, Raven says leaves will start photosynthesizing. "They get some water up and they start operating and making food and then it freezes again."

When the cold snap's back on, the leaves will be caught with water in their veins, freeze and die. So instead of a food staff that's resting, the tree is stuck with a food staff that's dead. And when spring comes, the permanent help will be no help. The tree will die.

That's why every fall, deciduous trees in many parts of North America get rid of their leaves and grow new ones in the spring. It's safer that way.

So for leaves, falling in the fall isn't optional. The trees are shoving them off."

I loved this article! I heard it on NPR this morning and I couldn't help but immortalizing by posting it on my blog! I actually learned something new and interesting while dozing off and on the bus this morning. Happy Days!             
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Happy belated Halloween!

What fearful shapes and shadows beset his path, amidst the dim and ghastly glare of a snowy




night! With what wistful look did he eye every trembling ray of light streaming across the



waste fields from some distant window! How often was he appalled by some shrub covered with



snow, which, like a sheeted specter, beset his very path! How often did he shrink with



curdling awe at the sound of his own steps on the frosty crust beneath his feet; and dread



to look over his shoulder, lest he should behold some uncouth being tramping close behind



him! and how often was he thrown into complete dismay by some rushing blast, howling among



the trees, in the idea that it was the Galloping Hessian on one of his nightly scouring!


- - - Washington Irving (a quote from "The Legend of Sleep Hollow")